Hello Folks,
I'm new here. A friend of mine calls this forum his "favorite jazz forum". Thanks for having me.
Now to business, be prepared, 'cause my question is a tough one:
Since Hawk's unaccompanied tenorsax-solo Picasso is based on the changes of Body and Soul, I was always wondering why it is in the key of ... well, that's one of those mysteries: it's somewhere located between E-Major, F-Major or even Eb-Major, depends on which LP-issue you have.
This seems to be an odd thing, because Body and Soul is usually played in the key of Db-Major, everywhere on the planet.
Please: Has someone of you a clue? Has this variety of keys something to do with the pitch of the shellack-masters or the transfer from them onto tape? By the way, I played it just for fun on my turntable in the "right" key of Db-Major, and it still sounds pretty reasonable.
Another mystery is the date of the recording: Picasso was either recorded in New York around 1947/48 or even earlier, in Los Angeles in 1945. There are two other unaccompanied solos of Hawk, called Hawk Variation (part 1 & 2), recorded in LA, 1945. I could provide sound-samples for comparison if requested.
Thanks for an enlightening answer,
Saxpet